Select Your Location
View available investments and insights in your market
Americas
Europe and the Middle East
Asia Pacific

Fixed Income Investment Outlook

1Q 2022
Persistent Inflation, Policy-Driven Volatility
With inflation top-of-mind for investors, we believe the Federal Reserve’s reaction function will likely be a key driver of real yields, the dollar and risk markets this year. Although we anticipate that inflation levels will ease, the decline will likely be shorter-lived and shallower than some expect. Meanwhile, policy actions by the Fed and other central banks are likely to drive increased levels of market volatility, and thus impact investment strategy moving forward.
DOWNLOAD OUR OUTLOOK
Commentary

As we wrote last quarter, we expect higher volatility in bond markets this year. Drivers of volatility are unlikely to be fundamental—household and corporate balance sheets remain strong, and, with the possible exception of China (as we discuss in more detail below), the global growth cycle remains supportive of both corporate and securitized credit markets.

Rather, the drivers of volatility in 2022 will likely be macro and policy trends—specifically, the evolution of inflation and central bank policy.

Inflation is top-of-mind for global bond investors. We enter 2022 with core inflation in regions as varied as the U.S., Europe and emerging markets at elevated levels. With the U.S. at 4.9% core inflation, Germany at 4.1%, Mexico at 5.7% and Poland at 4.7% (as a few examples), the debate is not about whether inflation will exceed central bank targets, but for how long.

We expect that the movements in U.S. inflation will be the most critical for markets in the first quarter. With emerging markets already responding to higher inflation prints with policy adjustments, and the European Central Bank clearly “looking through” the elevated prints, we believe it is the Federal Reserve’s reaction function that will be most important as a driver of real yields, the dollar and risk markets in general.

What do we expect for U.S. inflation? We agree with market consensus that inflation measures will start to decline as some key drivers of higher inflation, particularly car prices, start to moderate. However, we think the declines in inflation will be shorter-lived and shallower than Street expectations. The key reason is housing inflation; we expect persistent levels in this area as well as pressure from wages on other goods and services. As a result, we believe inflation could easily remain at 3% or more throughout the year.

Inflation Persistence Could Mean Lower—but Above Pre-Pandemic—Levels

Even if energy and autos go to 0%, CPI could be over 3.5%, with risk to the upside if rents accelerate.

November Inflation: Key Contributions From Energy and Housing (OER/RPR)
November Inflation: Key Contributions From Energy and Housing (OER/RPR) 
Source: BLS, Bloomberg. As of November 2021.
 
Housing Inflation May Not Peak Until 2H22
It remains below pre-pandemic and pre-Global Financial Crisis highs.
Housing Inflation May Not Peak Until 2H22 
Source: BLS, Bloomberg. As of November 2021.
 
Inflation Should Not Be an Upside Surprise in 2022
Rates markets and central banks have repriced short-term rates on the back of inflation; it may be difficult to do so by as much this year.
Inflation Should Not Be an Upside Surprise in 2022 
Source: Bloomberg. As of December 2021.
 
Forward Rate Levels May Suggest Front Ends Are Fairly Priced
Forward Rate Levels May Suggest Front Ends Are Fairly Priced 
Major Emerging Market Banks Hiked in 2021
Major Emerging Market Banks Hiked in 2021 
Source: Bloomberg. As of December 2021.

A second potential driver of volatility, related to persistent higher inflation, is the market’s expectation for a global hiking cycle. It’s important to note that this is primarily a developed market theme for 2022, as many large emerging market central banks have already begun tightening. This year, it will be the Fed’s and other G7 central banks’ turn to raise short-term rates.

What do we expect from these central banks? The table below highlights our expectations for many of the G7 countries. A few key themes are apparent in our expectations:

  • We expect three to four hikes from many of the key central banks, including the Fed, Bank of England and Bank of Canada. Generally, we expect slightly more hiking than markets are currently pricing.
  • The ECB is a notable exception to the global developed market hiking cycle—similar to other periods over the past decade; while other central banks are on the move, we expect no changes to the ECB’s negative overnight rate setting.
  • The hiking cycle in 2022 will be much more about ending “emergency” policy rather than attempting to significantly slow global growth—this is about a partial return to pre-COVID policy rather than anything more significant. As such, although policy will be in motion, we don’t expect these changes to drive fundamental changes in the global growth environment.
Key Views on Developed Market Central Banks Policy Rates in 2022
We anticipate continued balance sheet adjustments and transition to higher policy rates.
Key Views on Developed Market Central Banks Policy Rates in 2022 
Source: Bloomberg, Neuberger Berman. As of December 17, 2021.

In addition to raising short-term rates, both the Fed and ECB have already committed to a wind-down of their bond purchase programs. In December, the Fed announced an acceleration of its tapering of U.S. Treasury and mortgage purchases, and those purchases should cease by March. The ECB announced a similar policy: Its pandemic purchase program (PEPP) will also end in March, although the ECB will continue purchasing assets under its more general asset purchase program.

While the Fed’s transition from “on hold” to tightening policy has been well telegraphed, more complicated policy decisions are being made by the ECB and People’s Bank of China (PBoC), and markets will likely have rising sensitivity to these two central banks in particular.

For the ECB, the key reason we expect unchanged policy relates to the durability of economic trends in Europe. We expect the central bank to be hesitant to forecast inflation higher than its 2% target (and thus signal tighter policy) unless and until it sees lower unemployment rates and higher wage increases. For the markets, we expect increased focus on specific factors that could influence the timing of further policy changes: consumption momentum as economies reopen, whether next-generation funds support higher domestic growth, and how trends in inflation (excluding base effects) develop, having affected German inflation rates in particular.

Likewise, the PBoC faces increased challenges in 2022. Unlike other developed banks, the PBoC will likely still be biased toward easier policy, with an emphasis on supporting growth and not asset speculation. In practice, we believe the PBoC will cut the rate on its medium-term lending facility by 10 basis points to 2.85%, and will further cut the reserve ratio requirement by 50 bps to 11%. In addition, the central bank is likely to lean heavily on its relending facility in 2022 to more directly promote lending toward its desired sectors, and has announced a CNY1 trillion relending quota for green financing.

More broadly, China is aiming for higher growth this year, against a backdrop of continued rebalancing of growth drivers. The Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), which concluded in December, refocused policy priority toward growth, and suggested a more supportive policy environment for 2022. We think the government will set a growth target of 5% or above for 2022. The pace and intensity of regulatory tightening are likely to be adjusted to prevent systemic risks. Fiscal policy could do the heavy lifting in the first half of 2022 with the CEWC directing spending to be ramped up and frontloaded. The government will likely announce a 6% fiscal deficit for 2022, slightly higher than the estimated fiscal deficit of 5 – 5.5% in 2021.

While inflation rates and how they may impact central bank policy will likely be the two largest drivers of volatility this year, a few other developments should be highlighted as well.

One trend we are monitoring is the potential for merger and acquisition activity within the investment grade credit market. Over the past two years, these transactions—which often involve higher leverage—have been relatively muted. As the display below highlights, the last couple of years have been relatively unusual and a return to more typical levels of M&A activity would likely create some modest headwinds for investment grade spreads.

More M&A Could Pressure Spreads
M&A issuance was 13% of total investment grade issuance in 2021, which was a lower percentage than most recent pre-COVID years.
More M&A Could Pressure Spreads 
Source: Bloomberg, company reports, JPMorgan.

Second, housing price appreciation has helped support a range of securitized assets. As shown below, house prices and affordability levels in the U.S. have seen significant movement in the past three years. While a support for seasoned securities, new issuance in these markets in 2022 is starting from more elevated valuations. Given our expectation for more modest housing appreciation in the coming years, divergences in these markets are likely only increasing.

As Home Prices Have Moved Up, Affordability Has Moved Down
As Home Prices Have Moved Up, Affordability has Moved Down 
Source: Bloomberg.

Finally, the importance of environmental, social and governance factors in the credit market continues to increase. Whether climate change, equity inclusion and diversity, or general corporate governance, we expect more regulatory clarity on these issues (particularly in Europe) in 2022, which could further accelerate the trend toward leading-edge issuers. At the same time, we expect the energy sector to continue to be volatile in 2022. A strong performer in 2021, these markets should continue to be supported by strong commodity prices while facing headwinds given ESG concerns.

In terms of how to position fixed income portfolios this year, we are focused on four key ideas:

  • Maintain defensive positioning to interest rates, in the U.S. in particular. We expect the bond market to reprice the Fed’s terminal rate as growth and inflation exceed the Fed’s targets. We believe a repricing toward a 2.25% terminal funds rate (from 1.75% currently) is a reasonable expectation. This would likely imply a 10-year Treasury note target of approximately 1.85 – 2.00%. Given that the ECB will be on hold in 2022, we believe defensive positioning in U.S. rates will likely be appropriate in the near term.
  • Overweight credit markets, less so than in 2021, and be prepared to buy on dips. Similar to the past few years, fundamental credit risk remains limited. For example, we expect sub-1% default rates in high yield markets, which speaks to the strength of corporate balance sheets and the growth environment. If macro risks disrupt credit markets, investors should be prepared to add exposure. Within credit markets, we prefer high yield to investment grade, while European credit markets offer slightly more value than U.S. markets. Particularly in non-investment grade, we believe investments in telecommunications and technology sectors offer the most relative value. In investment grade, we continue to like BBB companies with spread advantages. This includes telecom, cable/media and technology. We continue to think U.S. banks provide attractive valuations. Corporate hybrids continue to provide attractive yield advantages, but the spread compression opportunities are currently limited. Energy is not attractive at these current valuations, in our view, even at elevated oil prices. Finally, taxable municipals should be an area of focus given spreads to investment grade credit.
  • Increase allocations to emerging markets hard currency debt. After relative underperformance to other credit markets in 2021, we expect that EM will do better in 2022. There are two main reasons. The first is valuations: EM is trading at one of the cheapest levels to corporate credit in the U.S. and Europe that we’ve seen over the past five years. The second relates to the cycle: EM is further advanced in the tightening and fiscal adjustment cycles than developed markets. Within EM, we see opportunities in the high yield hard currency space, select opportunities in the investment grade hard currency space, and Chinese securities.
  • Maintain inflation protections in portfolio. At current valuations, we prefer cash and floating-rate securities in the ABS, CLO, bank loan and corporate credit markets as a way to maintain flexibility toward higher inflation rates. A repricing of TIPS and/or other inflation markets will offer a direct way to position for enduring inflation, but at current valuations, we prefer emphasizing other assets to achieve this goal.
Sector Commentary
Investment Grade Corporate Credit: Strong Fundamentals, Full Valuations

Investment grade credit was characterized by relatively low levels of spread volatility in 2021 as fundamentals improved significantly due to the economic recovery. Strong fundamentals, supportive monetary policy and continued positive fiscal action resulted in relatively tight and range-bound spreads throughout the year even in the wake of supply chain issues, monetary policy transitions and new variants from the original COVID-19. Entering 2022, we expect spreads to remain range-bound, but with more volatility than experienced in 2021. In our view, the main source of potential spread weakness would likely be the continued tightening of monetary policy in response to inflation. Ultimately, continued strong fundamentals for credit globally should result in buying interest at wider levels.

On the fundamental side, supply chain and inflation issues (both in terms of costs and pricing power) were important topics in global credit, but were generally offset by significantly improving cash flows for global investment grade corporations. In 2022, we expect these strong cash flows to continue, but also anticipate an increase in event risk. M&A activity, increased share buyback activity and perhaps even some leveraged buyouts have potential to introduce more idiosyncratic risk into credit markets. While this should not result in systemic weakness to spreads, credit selection will be important to generating returns this year.

Global demand for investment grade credit has continued to be strong as yield remains important for investors in the generally low-interest-rate environment. Demand for U.S. credit, in particular, has been consistent and benefitted from the Fed’s maintaining interest rates at zero. This has resulted in generally favorable hedging costs for foreign investors to purchase dollar credit. Assuming short interest rates increase in the U.S. in 2022 at a faster pace than other developed markets, the result would be that hedging costs become less attractive for offshore investors. This will be an important dynamic to watch for throughout the year.

Putting it all together, we enter 2022 with moderated risk views compared to what was carried throughout much of 2021. This is not due to concern about deteriorating fundamentals, but is instead a reflection of expected volatility due to monetary transitions around the world. Having flexibility to increase risk and capitalize on adding risk during bouts of volatility will be critical to adding value in investment grade credit in 2022.

Global Non-Investment Grade: Fundamentals and Technicals Remain Supportive

Similar to investment grade markets, non-investment grade credit fundamentals and technicals remain highly supportive of valuations, and we have a constructive outlook for high yield, loans and CLOs. While the managements at high yield and loan issuers have been highlighting inflation, supply and labor constraints as concerns in their recent earnings reports, many continue to benefit from an ability to raise prices, and they continue to see strong end demand from consumers and businesses as a result of above-trend global real GDP growth, strong balance sheets and solid income growth. Above-trend growth, higher-trend inflation and central banks acknowledging a need for the removal of massive stimulus create a highly constructive backdrop for non-IG credit investor demand and for issuer fundamentals.

In our view, valuations in high yield and loans reflect the very benign default outlook with default rates at or near all-time lows (less than 1%), which is a function of solid free-cash-flow growth and issuers’ ability to refinance at lower rates. High yield aggregate net leverage continues to decline with historically well-above-average interest coverage. Loan issuers’ EBITDA growth is also firmly positive, and balance sheets overall are in very good shape. Credit conditions and where we are in the credit cycle are generally supportive of the tighter credit spreads and, in high yield, the share of BBs is near an all-time high of 54% of total outstanding. Technicals should also be very supportive of both high yield and loans as investors continue to seek attractive yields with lower interest rate risk as we move into a period where central banks are more likely to raise rates as a result of elevated inflation. Moreover, in high yield, the effect of rising stars and a moderation of new issuance should create incremental support for valuations. Also, the loan market continues to see strong demand from both retail investors and CLO production, which has been setting records.

While absolute yield levels in global high yield markets are still relatively low compared to history, the increased share of higher-quality credits in high yield, and the fact that we are still in the earlier phase of the credit cycle, are important to keep in mind when thinking about spreads and yield levels. It is not atypical for spreads in high yield and loans to remain in a narrow-but-low range at this part of an economic expansion. Further, the potential for spread compression remains as investor demand for lower duration yield persists. Also, yields on the leveraged loan market remain attractive, especially given its minimal duration and floating rate nature in an environment of central banks beginning to be more aggressively addressing the higher-than-expected inflation.

Emerging Markets: Opportunities Given Attractive Valuations

Our base case is for emerging markets growth to stay above-potential in the coming year, though not yet fully recovering all output lost during the pandemic. In the process, the excess of growth over developed markets remains very slim as the U.S. and Europe have fiscal drivers that their counterparts in EM lack. Furthermore, emerging markets are already front-loading tightening monetary policies significantly, reducing demand in the process. Political risks and unorthodox policymaking, or the risk thereof, will keep uncertainty elevated in Latin America especially, leading to low growth expectations, with bellwether Brazil, for example, expected to grow little if at all. Vaccinations across EM countries should increase, but the ability to cope with renewed waves is more constrained than in developed economies in most cases, although this is offset to a fair to large degree by resilience in EM on the back of younger populations, but also out of sheer necessity; new variants are expected to have progressively less impact on economic life and mobility. While tighter financial conditions may create bumps in the road and cap the pace of the rebound, the market has already increased its expectation for tightening meaningfully, and EM has preempted the tightening significantly, creating some buffers for the time ahead.

For China, due to the enforced deleveraging in the property sector, but also the regulatory clamp-down on various other sectors, we believe the scope for a resumption of growth in the first quarter is limited at the very least. Tightness in liquidity is spreading to other sectors as well. We foresee low growth, also given our expectation that policymakers will not meaningfully deviate from the structural path set out by the common prosperity policies, even if policies will be incrementally eased further on the credit, policy-rate and local government financing via bond markets, for example. While banks are easing policies toward the property sector, this is only feeding through selectively via stronger, better-positioned credits. The takeover of property projects that are stalled by state-owned entities will take more time than many of the maturing bonds would require, causing more distress and default outcomes.

With regard to valuations broadly, given that hard currency spread levels are near the wides of the last five years (excluding the peak pandemic period of late Q1 and Q2 2020), they discount the aforementioned risks to a more-than-proportionate degree, we believe. As such, we see room for spread compression in our central scenario, especially within pockets of the high yield universe of sovereigns, where we identify compelling value given the scope of underperformance over the last two years, offsetting the negative return-drag effect of rising U.S. rates. EM corporates are likely to be supported in the near term by robust standalone fundamentals, with decreasing leverage trends, resilience against sovereigns and their relatively low duration. The main 2021 headwind was from the China high-yield property sector, which we believe will stabilize and potentially contribute positively in 2022. A turn toward more supportive policies for the property sector in China should reduce the tail risk of a hard landing in the country and offer select opportunities for revaluation in this sector, which saw unprecedented spread-widening in 2021. We do think that the future landscape of the property sector in China will also be populated more heavily by state-owned enterprises. For 2022, we expect defaults to be above the historical average at 5%, mainly driven by China and to a lesser extent by Argentina, with very limited risk elsewhere. If we exclude China, the full-year default expectation for 2022 is 2.3%. However, default adjustments mean that only part of the spread compression contributes to returns.

On the local currency side, we are selective in local duration, favoring a number of high yielders with steep curves and where meaningful rate hikes have been largely priced in markets, such as Russia and Mexico, for example, while maintaining underweights across low yielders where the risk/reward is less attractive. While the risk of high inflation persisting for longer is meaningful, we believe the current levels have already created room for outperformance going into 2022. Meanwhile, we maintain a moderate risk stance on EM currencies given their higher sensitivity to the highlighted near-term headwinds for EM, even though relatively healthy external positions across EM, multiyear low valuations in some cases, and improving carry limit the downside risks for EM FX. During 2022, as the scope for rate hikes in the U.S. is increasingly discounted or realized, combined with some slowdown in developed markets with the effects of the pandemic easing, it could set the stage for a recovery in EM currencies.

Securitized Products: Slower House Price Appreciation, Reduced Fed Support for MBS

We believe securitized credit fundamentals should continue to support performance in the sector. Consumers are coming off a record year in 2021 of robust income growth, healthy household balance sheets and record house price appreciation. Household financial strength was reflected in broad consumer credit performance with sectors such as credit cards, auto loans, consumer loans and student loans approaching or setting new lows for serious delinquencies. Housing continues to be an asset with robust and widespread demand countered with modest supply. Commercial real estate credit continues to mend, led by rebounding travel activity and fading impact from government-imposed lockdowns. That said, the pandemic’s path will likely continue to dominate outcomes for specific property types—most notably retail, lodging and office sectors as the near-term disruption in travel, leisure and shopping patterns could weigh on loan performance and long-term changes to workplace practices and business travel have yet to be fully realized.

While we retain a positive outlook for consumer financial health into this year, we expect to see modest deterioration in securitized credit performance as one-off tailwinds that prevailed in 2021 fade. The benefits from the liquidity infusion provided by successive fiscal stimulus packages are unlikely to be repeated. House price appreciation was a significant contributor to growing household net worth and will likely slow due to higher interest rates and declining affordability. Additionally, federal forbearance programs for mortgages have not been renewed and households benefitting from relief will be required to resume payments. For spreads, we expect to see greater market volatility as the dispersion of potential paths for inflation, employment and growth overlap with a Fed policy reaction function for which there is no prior precedent.

Regarding the agency MBS markets, the Fed ended up announcing that it would be reducing its net MBS purchases down to zero by sometime in Q1 2022. Spreads were minimally impacted and remained range-bound during the fourth quarter. Looking forward, we expect the agency MBS market to grapple with two main questions: First, how much supply will the market need to absorb as the Fed reduces its purchases? And second, if interest rates do rise as we expect, how much will that reduce house price appreciation and refinancing activity? Overall, similar to other markets, we expect more volatility in 2022 as the markets wrestle with these issues.

Municipals: Supportive Trends Should Spill Over Into 2022

In absolute and relative terms, the municipal bond market delivered very competitive returns in 2021. Absolute returns were positive across IG tax-exempt, high yield and taxable munis despite a rising rate environment. High-yield municipals delivered the best results, with the Bloomberg Barclays Municipal High Yield index returning more than 7%. The overall muni market was lifted by several factors in 2021. First, the credit backdrop improved significantly as the economy continued its recovery from COVID-19 and large sums of federal stimulus were directed to the major municipal sectors. As a result, upgrades outpaced downgrades in 2021. Second, the technical backdrop was also quite favorable as 2021 broke the record for inflows into muni bond mutual funds. Third, although 2021 will be a record for headline supply, the composition of that supply was quite manageable. Taxable muni supply continues to be well above historical averages due to the tax law changes in 2017. However, that shift to taxable municipals has still not been enough to satiate overseas demand for a high-quality long duration fixed income with spread. In addition, this uptick in taxable muni supply has pulled issuance out of the tax-exempt market, which has, in turn, created a supply/demand imbalance for domestic U.S. investors. Finally, although it’s hard to quantify the total impact, U.S. investors were bombarded all year with the prospect of higher federal taxes, which probably led to more interest in the muni market’s ability to shelter income from taxes.

As we look to 2022, we think it is reasonable for investors to have lower return expectations for municipal bonds. We entered 2021 with a high degree of confidence that the Fed would be very accommodative for much of the year. With the economy continuing to recover and inflation proving to be more than “transitory,” the Fed has already started tapering its bond-buying program and signaling multiple rate increases in 2022. We expect volatility to increase as the Fed tightens monetary policy. With high-grade municipal valuations relative to Treasuries at very tight levels, it makes sense that prices could soften. Given that rates will continue to be low by historical standards, demand for spread should remain robust, but further tightening of spreads in taxable and high-yield munis is unlikely given current valuations.

In our view, an uptick in volatility will be a welcome development for the muni market given how narrow trading ranges were for much of 2021. We may see bonds become less tightly held, which should increase the ability to add value through security selection. As we enter 2022, we think it makes sense to be cautious on duration given current valuations and the likelihood that rates will drift higher. High-yield municipals should continue to outperform the IG muni market given the additional carry they generate, but the relative value calls on lower-rated munis will need to be more discerning. If high-grade valuations soften, they may offer more relative value when compared to certain lower-rated bonds that have already rallied so much. While not a huge part of the overall muni market, floating rate munis in our view could be a compelling opportunity as the Fed begins to raise rates. Despite some potential headwinds, an allocation to actively managed municipal bonds should continue to dampen overall portfolio volatility while delivering tax-efficient income for U.S. taxpayers. Rising rates, particularly at the short end of the curve, should inject some much-needed yield into muni bond portfolios.

Investment Implications
  • Inflation could start to decline as some key drivers begin to moderate; however, reductions could be shorter-lived and shallower than some expect.
  • The evolution of inflation and central bank policy will likely drive higher market volatility in 2022.
  • Investors should maintain defensive positioning to interest rates, particularly in the U.S.
  • We favor overweighting credit markets, although less than in 2021. Fundamental credit risk remains limited, benefiting high yield over investment grade. European credit offers slightly more value than U.S. credit.
  • Emerging markets hard currency debt appears attractive given EM’s earlier start on tightening and last year’s underperformance.
  • Cash and floating-rate securities in the ABS, CLO, bank loan and corporate credit markets offer flexibility in the event of enduring inflation; TIPS seem fully priced at these levels.
Market Views
Abacus 
Views expressed herein are generally those of the Neuberger Berman Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee and do not reflect the views of the firm as a whole. Neuberger Berman advisors and portfolio managers may make recommendations or take positions contrary to the views expressed. Nothing herein constitutes a prediction or projection of future events or future market behavior. Due to a variety of factors, actual events or market behavior may differ significantly from any views expressed. See additional disclosures at the end of this material, which are an important part of this presentation.
*Currency views are based on spot rates, including carry.
OUTLOOK
Fixed Income Investment Outlook
The evolution of inflation and central bank policy will likely drive higher market volatility in 2022.
DOWNLOAD PDF
Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee
About the Members
The Neuberger Berman Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee consists of 16 of our most senior investment professionals who meet monthly to share views on their respective sectors to inform the asset allocation decisions made for our multisector strategies. The group covers the full range of fixed income, combining deep investment knowledge with an average of 29 years of experience.
Brad Tank
Chief Investment Officer—Fixed Income
42 Years of Industry Experience
20 Years with Neuberger Berman
Ashok Bhatia, CFA
Deputy Chief Investment Officer—Fixed Income
30 Years of Industry Experience
5 Years with Neuberger Berman
Thanos Bardas, PhD
Co-Head of Global Investment Grade Fixed Income
25 Years of Industry Experience
25 Years with Neuberger Berman
David M. Brown, CFA
Co-Head of Global Investment Grade Fixed Income
32 Years of Industry Experience
20 Years with Neuberger Berman
Brad Tank, Chief Investment Officer—Fixed Income
Brad Tank, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2002 and is the Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of Fixed Income. He is a member of Neuberger Berman’s Operating, Investment Risk, Asset Allocation Committees and Fixed Income’s Investment Strategy Committee, and leads the Fixed Income Multi-Sector Group. From inception in 2008 through 2015, Brad was also Chief Investment Officer of Neuberger Berman’s Multi-Asset Class Investment business and remains an important member of that team along with the firm’s other CIOs. From 1990 to2002, Brad was director of fixed income for Strong Capital Management in Wisconsin. He was also a member of the Office of the CEO and headed institutional and intermediary distribution. In 1997, Brad was named “Runner Up” for Morningstar Mutual Fund Manager of the Year. From 1982 to 1990, he was a vice president at Salomon Brothers in the government, mortgage and financial institutions areas. Brad earned a BBA and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

Ashok Bhatia, CFA, Deputy Chief Investment Officer—Fixed Income
Ashok K. Bhatia, CFA, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2017. Ashok is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income. He is a lead portfolio manager on multi-sector fixed income strategies and is also a member of the Multi-Asset Class portfolio management team, the Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee and the firm’s Asset Allocation Committee. Previously, Ashok has held senior investment and leadership positions in several asset management firms and hedge funds, including Wells Fargo Asset Management, Balyasny Asset Management, and Stark Investments. Ashok has had investment responsibilities across global fixed income and currency markets. Ashok began his career in 1993 as an investment analyst at Morgan Stanley. Ashok received a BA with high honors in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago. He has been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Thanos Bardas, PhD, Co-Head of Global Investment Grade Fixed Income
Thanos Bardas, PhD, Managing Director, joined the firm in 1998. Thanos is the Global Co-Head of Investment Grade and serves as a Senior Portfolio Manager on Global Investment Grade and Multi-Sector Fixed income strategies. He sits on the firm’s Asset Allocation Committee and Fixed Income’s Investment Strategy Committee, and is a member of the Fixed Income Multi-Sector Group. Thanos also leads the Global Rates team in determining rates exposure across various portfolio strategies and oversees both inflation and LDI investments. Thanos graduated with honors from Aristotle University, Greece, earned his MS from the University of Crete, Greece, and holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from State University of New York at Stony Brook. He holds FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 licenses.
David M. Brown, CFA, Co-Head of Global Investment Grade Fixed Income
David M. Brown, CFA, Managing Director, rejoined the firm in 2003. Dave is Co-Head of Global Investment Grade and acts as Senior Portfolio Manager on both Global Investment Grade and Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategies. He is a member of the Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee and the Fixed Income Multi-Sector Group. Dave also leads the Investment Grade Credit team in determining credit exposures across both Global Investment Grade and Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategies. Dave initially joined the firm in 1991 after graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Government and subsequently received his MBA in Finance from Northwestern University. Prior to his return, he was a senior credit analyst at Zurich Scudder Investments and later a credit analyst and portfolio manager at Deerfield Capital. Dave has been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Patrick Barbe
Head of European Investment Grade Fixed Income
35 Years of Industry Experience
4 Years with Neuberger Berman
Michael J. Holmberg
Co-Head of Special Situations and Senior Portfolio Manager
34 Years of Industry Experience
14 Years with Neuberger Berman
John Humphrey
Co-Head of Special Situations and Senior Portfolio Manager
33 Years of Industry Experience
4 Years with Neuberger Berman
Jon Jonsson
Senior Portfolio Manager—Global Fixed Income
28 Years of Industry Experience
9 Years with Neuberger Berman
Patrick Barbe, Head of European Investment Grade Fixed Income

Patrick Barbe, actuary, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2018. Patrick is the European Fixed Income head and serves as a Senior Portfolio Manager on that asset class. Patrick graduated in Actuarial Studies from the Institut de Science Financière et d'Assurances in Lyon, France (1988). He started his career as a portfolio manager of dedicated mutual funds for a BNP Paribas subsidiary. Then he headed the European Fixed Income at BNP Paribas Asset Management from 1997 to 2018: Patrick has acquired considerable expertise from his long professional experience in credit and fixed income management. As such, he was responsible for defining and piloting the management process and the investment strategy implemented by the management team, and for coordinating the activities of each team member. He also participated in designing and developing the product range.

Michael J. Holmberg, Co-Head of Special Situations and Senior Portfolio Manager
Michael J. Holmberg, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2009. Michael is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Non-Investment Grade Credit and Co-Head of Special Situations focusing on distressed and real asset portfolios. Prior to joining the firm, Michael founded Newberry Capital Management LLC in 2006 and prior to that Michael founded and managed Ritchie Capital Management’s Special Credit Opportunities Group. He was also a managing director at Strategic Value Partners and Moore Strategic Value Partners. He began investing in distressed and credit oriented strategies as a portfolio manager at Bank of America where he established the bank’s global proprietary capital account. Michael received an AB in economics from Kenyon College and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
John Humphrey, Co-Head of Special Situations and Senior Portfolio Manager
John Humphrey, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2019. John is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Non-Investment Grade Credit and Co-Head of Special Situations focusing on distressed and stressed corporate assets. Prior to joining Neuberger, John was a Portfolio Manager focused on eventdriven stressed and distressed for Archview Investment Group, a firm he co-founded in 2009. From 2004 to 2008, John was a Managing Director in Citigroup's Global Special Situations Group, a proprietary investment vehicle focusing on stressed and distressed credit. John served as head of research for Citi's DistressedTrading Group from 1999-2004. From 1991-1999 John was Head of Distressed Trading Research for Merrill Lynch's High Yield Trading Desk. John started his careeras a corporate banking analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert. John graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Economics from Middlebury College.
Jon Jonsson, Senior Portfolio Manager—Global Fixed Income
Jon Jonsson, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2013. Jon is a Senior Portfolio Manager for the Global Investment Grade and Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategies. He is a member of the Fixed Income Investment Strategy Committee and the Fixed Income Multi-Sector Group. Prior to joining the firm, Jon was employed by J.P. Morgan for 15 years. Most recently he served as Head of the Global Aggregate Team at J.P. Morgan in London. Jon received a Masters in Financial Engineering from New York University and a BSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Iceland.
Dmitry Gasinsky, CFA
Head of Private Residential Credit Strategies
23 Years of Industry Experience
18 Years with Neuberger Berman
Ugo Lancioni
Head of Global Currency
28 Years of Industry Experience
15 Years with Neuberger Berman
Joseph P. Lynch
Global Head of Non-Investment Grade Credit
27 Years of Industry Experience
21 Years with Neuberger Berman
Gorky Urquieta
Co-Head of Emerging Markets Debt
29 Years of Industry Experience
10 Years with Neuberger Berman
Dmitry Gasinsky, CFA, Head of Private Residential Credit Strategies
Dmitry Gasinsky, CFA, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2005. Dmitry is a Senior Portfolio Manager overseeing Private US Residential Real Estate Debt Strategies. Prior to assuming his current role, Dmitry served as head of US mortgage credit research, leading the team’s research, modeling, quantitative strategy, and quantitative investment / portfolio analysis effort, while also being directly involved in new product development, analysis and implementation. Prior to joining the firm, he spent three years at The Vanguard Group, where he served as a fixed income trader and assisted in managing $16 billion in municipal bond assets. Dmitry earned an AB degree in Economics with distinction from Cornell University and an MBA with concentration in Analytic Finance from the University of Chicago. He has also been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Ugo Lancioni, Head of Global Currency
Ugo Lancioni, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2007. Ugo is the Head of Global Currency and serves as Senior Portfolio Manager on Global Investment Grade and Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategies. He sits on the firm’s Asset Allocation Committee and is a member of the senior investment team that sets overall portfolio strategy for Global Investment Grade. Ugo leads the Currency team in determining FX exposures across various portfolio strategies. Prior to joining the firm, Ugo was employed by JP Morgan for 11 years. At JP Morgan AM he worked as Currency Strategist and Portfolio Manager in charge of the FX risk in Fixed Income Portfolios. Prior to this, Ugo worked as a Trader at JP Morgan Bank, both in London and Milan, in the short term interest rate trading group (STIRT) where he was responsible for foreign exchange forwards market making and rates derivatives trading. Ugo received a Master’s in Economics from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome.
Joseph P. Lynch, Global Head of Non-Investment Grade Credit

Joseph Lynch, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2002. Joe is the Global Head of Non-Investment Grade Credit and a Senior Portfolio Manager for Non-Investment Grade Credit focusing on loan portfolios. In addition, he sits on the Credit Committee for Non-Investment Grade Credit and serves on Neuberger Berman’s Partnership Committee. Joe was a founding partner of LightPoint Capital Management LLC, which was acquired by Neuberger Berman in 2007. Prior to joining LightPoint, he was employed at ABN AMRO where he was responsible for structuring highly leveraged transactions. Joe earned a BS from the University of Illinois and an MBA from DePaul University.

Gorky Urquieta, Co-Head of Emerging Markets Debt
Gorky Urquieta, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2013. Gorky is a Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of the Emerging Markets Debt team. He joined the firm from ING Investment Management where he was most recently global co-head of EMD, responsible for global emerging markets debt external and local currency strategies. Gorky joined ING in 1997 as a member of Emerging Markets Investors, a hedge fund manager affiliated with ING Furman Selz Asset Management, where he conducted analysis of sovereign and corporate bonds and loans, local currency investments and equities. Previously, Gorky worked at Dart Container Corporation where he was part of a research and trading team active in emerging and developed markets. He obtained a BA in Business Administration from the Bolivian Catholic University in La Paz, Bolivia, and a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin.
Rob Drijkoningen
Co-Head of Emerging Markets Debt
33 Years of Industry Experience
10 Years with Neuberger Berman
James L. Iselin
Head of Municipal Fixed Income
29 Years of Industry Experience
16 Years with Neuberger Berman
Jason Pratt
Head of Insurance Fixed Income
30 Years of Industry Experience
7 Years with Neuberger Berman
Rob Drijkoningen, Co-Head of Emerging Markets Debt

Rob Drijkoningen, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2013. Rob is a Co-Head of the Emerging Markets Debt team and Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for over $24.5 bn in AuM in EMD¹ and 34 investment professionals. Rob joined the firm after working at ING Investment Management for almost 18 years, most recently as the global co-head of the Emerging Markets Debt team responsible for managing over $16 billion in assets. In 1990, Rob began his career on the sell-side at Nomura and Goldman Sachs, after which he became senior investment manager for global fixed income at ING Investment Management. In 1997 he became global head of the Emerging Markets Debt team and in 2004 was named global head of the Emerging Markets Debt and High Yield teams. From 2007 through 2009 Rob created and led ING Investment Management’s Multi-Asset Group in Europe, managing mandates across asset classes including fixed income, equities, real estate and commodities. In 2009 he was appointed global head of emerging markets for both emerging markets equity and debt strategies. Rob earned his Macro-Economics degree from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and has authored numerous articles on emerging markets debt subjects. He is a member of DSI.

1. As of June 30, 2020

James L. Iselin, Head of Municipal Fixed Income
James L. Iselin, Managing Director, joined the firm in 2006. Jamie is the Head of the Municipal Fixed Income Team and a Senior Portfolio Manager. Additionally, he co-manages the Neuberger Berman New York, California and Municipal Fund Inc. closed-end bond funds as well as the Neuberger Berman Municipal Intermediate Bond Fund, the Neuberger Berman Municipal Impact Fund and the Neuberger Berman Municipal High Income Fund. Prior to joining the firm, he was a managing director and senior portfolio manager with Robeco Weiss, Peck & Greer in the Municipal Fixed Income group, where he worked since 1993. Jamie holds a BA in Philosophy from Denison University.
Jason Pratt, Head of Insurance Fixed Income
Jason Pratt, Managing Director, joined Neuberger Berman in 2016 and is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Insurance Fixed Income. Jason is a member of the Fixed Income Investment Committee and Fixed Income Multi-Sector Group, and is responsible for the oversight of insurance fixed income portfolio management globally. Jason brings extensive insurance portfolio management and capital markets experience, having most recently served as chief investment officer of Montpelier Reinsurance Holdings Ltd., a global insurance and reinsurance platform. In this capacity, Jason had executive management responsibilities for the company’s investment portfolios including market strategy, asset allocation and risk management across jurisdictions including the U.S., Bermuda and Montpelier’s Lloyd’s Syndicate. In addition, Jason was President of Blue Capital Advisors, a wholly owned collateralized reinsurance subsidiary of Montpelier. Jason’s prior experience includes roles ranging from credit analysis, portfolio management and risk management across fixed income markets for insurance portfolios and asset management firms. Jason holds a BS in Economics from the University of Louisville.